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every time you close your eyes (lies, lies)
Title: every time you close your eyes (lies, lies)
Fandom: End Roll
Character(s): Russell, Walter, Cody, Tabasa, Dogma, Mireille, Gardenia
Pairing(s): None
Genre: Angst
Word Count: 525
Rating: PG
Warnings: Spoilers
Summary: On the night of Day 5, Russell stays out.
Notes: Eris' prompt.
Climbing the tower had made sense. It was natural for Russell to be curious about it, and want to explore it as soon as possible. And even he couldn’t have known how long it would take to climb every floor.
(“There’d better be something at the end of this weird tower,” Cody said. “I could be in bed right now.”
“There will be,” Russell said. There wasn’t.)
Checking out the door near Gardenia’s house had made sense, too. It was within their nameless town, so of course it should be checked out, in case there was anything in there that posed a threat to the residents of the town.
(Tabasa covered his mouth as he said, “Can we just go back-”
“Gardenia would be first,” Russell said, and that got Tabasa’s yawns to stop immediately.)
Of course they had to check out Darcover Town as soon as they could, to see if there was anything that could be done to help the people of the town. They’d had faith in Dogma, so Russell brought Dogma there for that reason, and not to lure out the monster in the shape of his mother.
(“It seems that there’s nothing that can be done for them after all,” Dogma said, eyes cast to the ground.
Russell squeezed his arm. “...We did our best.”)
Justifying rescuing Raymond and Fairia had been easy - although nobody understood what was going on in the unregulated space, they all agreed that they couldn’t just leave anyone inside for too long.
(“Finally,” Mireille said, sighing in relief as the last path opened up. “I-I can’t wait to get out of here and back home.”
Russell said nothing.)
It had been much harder to convince the others to fight Walter’s illusions right that second, but eventually he had managed to bribe the others with the books Walter gave them.
(“The skills are useful,” Russell said. “And what if that monster attacks tomorrow?”
Gardenia rubbed her eyes with her arm. “Okaaay, but I’m hitting the hay right after this. You should too, Russell! Don’t try and pull an all-nighter, that’ll mess you up for days.”)
Once the last illusion was defeated and Walter had volunteered to assist, Russell was left sitting in the Dreamsend Research tent considering his options.
“That Cattie wanted a Yama-Basho, I could see if I can find one on Dragons’ Peak…” he said, mostly to himself.
“You don’t want to go to sleep and advance the dream.” Walter, as blunt as ever, interrupted his thoughts.
Russell turned to him with wide eyes, and very slowly nodded.
“It’s inevitable. The medicine only keeps you knocked out for a certain amount of time in reality - eventually, you’ll pass out where you’re ‘standing’.” Walter sighed. “I understand your desire not to allow your guilt to warp things further. But you’re only delaying it now. There’s no way to reverse the progression of guilt.”
Russell looked away. “I don’t want another Darcover Town.”
“It will only get worse from here.” Another, heavier sigh as Russell flinched. “Go back to your house and sleep. Or do you need someone to walk you home?”
“...I’ll go by myself.”
Fandom: End Roll
Character(s): Russell, Walter, Cody, Tabasa, Dogma, Mireille, Gardenia
Pairing(s): None
Genre: Angst
Word Count: 525
Rating: PG
Warnings: Spoilers
Summary: On the night of Day 5, Russell stays out.
Notes: Eris' prompt.
Climbing the tower had made sense. It was natural for Russell to be curious about it, and want to explore it as soon as possible. And even he couldn’t have known how long it would take to climb every floor.
(“There’d better be something at the end of this weird tower,” Cody said. “I could be in bed right now.”
“There will be,” Russell said. There wasn’t.)
Checking out the door near Gardenia’s house had made sense, too. It was within their nameless town, so of course it should be checked out, in case there was anything in there that posed a threat to the residents of the town.
(Tabasa covered his mouth as he said, “Can we just go back-”
“Gardenia would be first,” Russell said, and that got Tabasa’s yawns to stop immediately.)
Of course they had to check out Darcover Town as soon as they could, to see if there was anything that could be done to help the people of the town. They’d had faith in Dogma, so Russell brought Dogma there for that reason, and not to lure out the monster in the shape of his mother.
(“It seems that there’s nothing that can be done for them after all,” Dogma said, eyes cast to the ground.
Russell squeezed his arm. “...We did our best.”)
Justifying rescuing Raymond and Fairia had been easy - although nobody understood what was going on in the unregulated space, they all agreed that they couldn’t just leave anyone inside for too long.
(“Finally,” Mireille said, sighing in relief as the last path opened up. “I-I can’t wait to get out of here and back home.”
Russell said nothing.)
It had been much harder to convince the others to fight Walter’s illusions right that second, but eventually he had managed to bribe the others with the books Walter gave them.
(“The skills are useful,” Russell said. “And what if that monster attacks tomorrow?”
Gardenia rubbed her eyes with her arm. “Okaaay, but I’m hitting the hay right after this. You should too, Russell! Don’t try and pull an all-nighter, that’ll mess you up for days.”)
Once the last illusion was defeated and Walter had volunteered to assist, Russell was left sitting in the Dreamsend Research tent considering his options.
“That Cattie wanted a Yama-Basho, I could see if I can find one on Dragons’ Peak…” he said, mostly to himself.
“You don’t want to go to sleep and advance the dream.” Walter, as blunt as ever, interrupted his thoughts.
Russell turned to him with wide eyes, and very slowly nodded.
“It’s inevitable. The medicine only keeps you knocked out for a certain amount of time in reality - eventually, you’ll pass out where you’re ‘standing’.” Walter sighed. “I understand your desire not to allow your guilt to warp things further. But you’re only delaying it now. There’s no way to reverse the progression of guilt.”
Russell looked away. “I don’t want another Darcover Town.”
“It will only get worse from here.” Another, heavier sigh as Russell flinched. “Go back to your house and sleep. Or do you need someone to walk you home?”
“...I’ll go by myself.”